Bukit Lawang

The popular tourist resort of Bukit Lawang, tucked away on the easternmost fringes of the Gunung Leuser National Park, 78km north of Medan, is home to the Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre. On November 2, 2003, a flash flood ripped through the heart of the resort leaving more than two hundred dead, including five tourists. The rebuilding process is finally complete and the decimated area across from the feeding centre has regained much of its former buzz. With a wonderful selection of treks into the heart of the jungle, whitewater adventures and some of the best opportunities to see wild orang-utan in the world, this is a destination worth visiting.

Bukit Lawang has a stunning location below curtains of thick jungle on the banks of the Bohorok River. Aside from relaxing at one of the numerous cafés and bars, the main attractions are the feeding times behind the Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre and the treks in the Gunung Leuser National Park.

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The Bohorok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre

The reason for the existence of the tourist resort is the Bukit Lawang Bohorok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre (whttp://www.orangutans-sos.org), founded in 1973 by two Swiss women, Monica Borner and Regina Frey, with the aim of returning captive and orphaned orang-utans into the wild after re-teaching them the art of tree climbing and nest building. The rehabilitation programme was suspended a while ago and though the centre is still open, it is more a tourist attraction than anything else.

Visitors are allowed to watch the twice-daily, hour-long feeding sessions that take place on the hill behind the centre. All visitors must have a permit from the PHPA office. All being well, you should see at least one orang-utan during the session, and to witness their gymnastics is to enjoy one of the most memorable experiences in Indonesia.

Trekking

Bukit Lawang is the most popular base for organizing treks into the Gunung Leuser National Park, with plenty of guides based here. If you want only a short day-trek, a walk in the forest around Bukit Lawang is fine, and your chance of seeing monkeys, gibbons, macaques and, of course, orang-utans is high. A range of treks is on offer, including a week-long slog towards Ketambe in Aceh province, passing through some excellent tracts of primary forest. Increasingly, visitors are heading deep into the jungle to reach Tangkahan, which offers elephant-mounted treks and whitewater rafting. One of the most popular (and enjoyable) options from Bukit Lawang remains the full-day trek, which includes lunch and finishes with a thirty-minute trip to Bukit Lawang through the rapids on an inflatable tube raft. You must have a permit for every day that you plan to spend in the park, and you must also have a guide, and should also be careful when choosing – make sure they have ITGA approval. Guides supplied by the Jungle Inn have the best repuation. Whoever you decide to hire, they should never feed, touch or even call the orang-utans. Keep an eye out for the notorious Mina, a mischevious, semi-wild female known for intimidating visitors and occasionally descending from the trees to give chase.

Tubing

Tubing – the art of sitting in the inflated inner tube of a tyre as it hurtles downstream, battered by the wild currents of the Bohorok – is popular though not without risk. The tubes can be rented from almost anywhere in Bukit Lawang. If you’re not a strong swimmer, consider tubing on a Sunday, when the locals employ a rescue team along the more dangerous stretches of the river around Bukit Lawang. The rapids can be quite extreme after heavy rain, so should be attempted with caution if you are without a guide. There is a bridge 12km downstream (2–3hrs) of the village, from where you can catch a bus back.